It's enough to make your toes curl. Raw chickens, false teeth and personal hygiene items best left to the imagination are all shoved down Oxfordshire's drains, writes Zahra Akkerhuys.

The problem may not be unique to this county but Thames Water has launched an on-going campaign, called Bag It and Bin It, to encourage people to think twice before they throw rubbish down the toilet or into the sink.

There are between 60 and 70 Thames Water sewage treatment works in Oxfordshire, with the majority of sewage being treated at sites in Banbury, Sandford-on-Thames, Witney and Cassington.

At the works, water is safely treated and returned to the natural environment to continue its journey on to the sea.

In early Victorian times, clean water was not available and sewage found its way into drinking water supplies and rivers, triggering epidemics such as cholera and typhoid.

Today, the treatment works deal with water from two major sources: surface water sewers, which channel rainfall from people's drives or roofs; and foul water sewers, which channel waste water from household, including water from toilets, baths and washing machines.

At the sewage works staff ensure the water is purified with special chemicals and processed for release back into our rivers.

Useful by-products such as methane and fertilisers are also processed.

Sewage system analysts say many people treat their drains as a rubbish bin.

Thames Water spokesman Frank Shepherd says: "It's not the sort of thing people think about but it is in everyone's interest to prevent blockages in their property's own drains or the public drains.

"I think people don't realise the impact their actions have on the sewerage system and highly-trained engineers have to be called out to unclog the drains and keep the water flowing.

"We are trying to persuade people not to throw things down the toilet when they can be disposed of in other ways."

Items which have been found clogging up drains in Oxfordshire include:

*A traffic cone

*A bowling ball

*A dead fish

*Live bullets.

It may be tempting to laugh but many people do not realise how dangerous it is to throw chemicals and household products into drains.

These can seep into the water table and cause damage to the environment.

Oxfordshire County Council's waste disposal department is working hard to make sure people can dispose of harmful products safely.

People in Oxford can get rid of old paint through a scheme that Oxfordshire County Council has introduced with the help of B&Q stores.

Simply take your old paint tins, which must be more than a third full, to the B&Q store at the John Allen Centre, Cowley, where staff will take them off your hands.

Empty paint tins or tins with dried paint at the bottom can be recycled if taken to your nearest waste recycling centre.

And county council officers will collect hazardous or poisonous chemicals from your home.

British Gas has just teamed up with drains experts Dyno-Rod to launch a new service throughout Oxfordshire offering a drain repair service.

*Call Oxfordshire County Council's waste disposal team on 01865 815797 for more information about the disposal of waste products.